A new lawsuit claims the FAA and NPS have not made significant progress in developing mandatory air management plans for national parks/NPS file.

Unsatisfied with how the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Park Service have responded to a lawsuit to force them to implement air tour management plans for airspace over national parks, two groups are heading back to court to force the agencies to accomplish that goal.

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and Hawaii Island Coalition Malama Pono argued in the latest lawsuit that the FAA and NPS, facing a potential court order, vowed to take action but are "offering little relief from noisy air tours droning over national parks."

It was 20 years ago that the National Park Air Tour Management Act of 2000 was implemeneted and required the FAA, in coordination with the NPS, to set limits on overflight numbers, timing, and routes to protect park resources and the visitor experience.  Despite more than 47,000 park overflights annually, FAA and NPS have yet to adopt a single air tour management plan, according to PEER.

Earlier this year FAA and NPS officials said they would meet August 9 to begin work to establish mandatory air tour management plans or voluntary agreements for seven units of the National Park System. What came out of those meetings was unsatisfactory to PEER and HICoP.

The latest lawsuit, awaiting a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, asks the court to order mandatory deadlines for adoption of air tour limits covering seven parks that account for more than half of the overflights: Hawaii Volcanoes, Haleakalā, Glacier, Bryce Canyon, and Great Smoky Mountains National Parks, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, and Muir Woods National Monument.

In a late, unscheduled filing, the FAA and NPS announced that they would seek voluntary agreements with air tour operators in seven parks, only one of which (Great Smoky Mountains) is part of the PEER lawsuit. The other six are Death Valley, Mount Rainier, and Badlands National Parks, Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, and Rainbow Bridge National Monument. 

According to PEER, deficiencies in the FAA’s work so far include plans being "generally reliant upon the consent of air tour operators"; "no guarantee of any flight reductions. The FAA has already granted interim air approvals for far more than the actual number of tours;" and no firm deadlines for plans to be implemented.

“If there is no credible threat of a mandatory limit, tour operators have zero incentive to voluntarily impose one,” said PEER General Counsel Paula Dinerstein. “The government’s latest filing only reinforces the case for judicial intervention since FAA and NPS appear institutionally incapable of constraining commercial aviation, no matter how damaging to parks.”

The PEER and HICoP filing seeks a court order for final adoption of air tour management plans in the seven parks in the suit within the next two years, unless a voluntary plan is negotiated in the interim.

“The constant buzz from air tours during parks’ peak seasons disturbs wildlife and destroys any sense of serenity for park visitors,” added Dinerstein, pointing to parks, such as Hawaii Volcanoes, besieged by constant year-round helicopter noise, with as many as 80 flights a day, with no prospects for relief.  “Litigation is necessary because waiting for FAA and NPS to act is worse than waiting for Godot.”